Quid Pro Quo
by Darkly Dreaming
Summary: "Tell me something about yourself," said Ruby. "You tell me something and I'll tell you something." "I used to have an accent," he said.


A/N: I've been sucked into Frankenwolf and I wouldn't have it any other way. I watched The Doctor again and felt I knew Viktor well enough to be able to try writing him. And I can't have Viktor without Ruby.

* * *

Viktor and Ruby sat on the edge of the pier. It had since become 'their spot.' If either of them ever had to get away, to think, to be alone, this is where they'd come. If they were there together, they'd talk. Sometimes about their pasts, sometimes about nothing at all.

Today was a day of reflection.

"Tell me something about yourself," said Ruby, soft-spoken. She'd taken to speaking to Viktor softer than everyone else, like every conversation they had was private. "You tell me something and I'll tell you something."

Viktor cast a side-glance at her and thought a moment. "I used to have an accent," he said, adapting said former speech pattern. When she didn't reply he looked at her fully. She was biting her lip, obviously to keep from laughing. "What?"

"Nothing," she hurriedly replied. "It's just...I didn't expect it." She let out a little giggle and it was possibly the cutest thing Viktor had ever heard. "Everyone else kept their accents. I wonder why Regina cursed you without it."

"Probably the same reason she cursed me without a first name," he said, brow furrowed but not quite angry. "Spite. When I first met her she called me a wizard." He rolled his eyes. "Probably something Jefferson told her, the fool. I told her I prefered the title Doktor, but that she could call me whatever made her comfortable. The doctor in me, trying to put away her unease. She kept with Doctor for whatever reason, and it seems to have stuck."

Ruby leaned backward on her hands. "Are you going to keep it?" At his curious look she said, "The accent. Are you going to go back to it?"

"Should I?" he asked, curious. It hadn't crossed his mind.

Ruby grinned at him. "I think you should. It fits you so much better now that you're Viktor again. Dr. Whale was a cocky bastard. But Viktor Frankenstein is a confident man of science."

Viktor raised an eyebrow at her. "And I suppose I should find my old lab coat and start parting my hair down the middle again?" The corner of his mouth crooked up - he didn't really smile much, not even as Dr. Whale - and took a deep breath through his nose. "No, I don't think I shall." He noticed she deflated a little at that. "But I think I will keep the accent. Especially if it keeps that pretty flush on your cheeks."

Ruby noticed her face was warm, as well as...other places. And that made her blush even harder. "Yeah, well, I can't help it, can I?" she defended. "It's sexy." Her eyes widened when she realized she'd said that out loud. "Damn."

"Oh is it?" he smiled in surprise and Ruby thought she'd say it again if only it kept that smile there. "Well then, I shall definitely keep it. And maybe I _will_ find that old coat of mine. I've been told I cut quite a figure in it." A moment of silence passed. "Come now. Your turn. Quid pro quo, Clarice. Tell me something I don't know." He smiled again and it was all she could do to resist kissing him.

So she didn't.

Viktor's eyes widened in surprise, then fluttered closed and he leaned into the kiss. Ruby pulled away and he leaned closer, following her.

"Well," he said. "I didn't know that." He cleared his throat and tried to will away the urge to capture her lips again.

"I always thought you were attractive," Ruby whispered. "Even as Whale. But today, and before with the outsider, and everything in between..." she paused and smirked. "Plus the accent. You're amazing."

Viktor's eyebrows rose. "Darling, you'll inflate my ego even more like that. And with Whale also in here, with his conquests and cocky surgical abilities... Let's just say not even the Enchanted Forest couldn't handle it."

Ruby had a glint in her eye that didn't escape him. She leaned in close, right at his ear, and whispered his name. "Viktor."

His eyelids fluttered, but he remained in control. Obviously this was unacceptable. She raised her voice barely above a whisper, almost a growl. "Viktor. I want you."

_Viktor. I want you._ Those four words, he thought, were to be his downfall. He'd look back on this day and know this was when it happened.

His lips were on hers in a heartbeat. His hands roamed through her long brown hair, caressing her skull, her neck, her arm. One hand pulled her waist toward him and they fell back, still fused. He tore himself away from her lips, but couldn't bare to part for long. He trailed kisses along her jaw and neck. "So, your place or mine?" he asked, nibbling her ear. "Because I know a good thing when I see it, and I'm not foolish enough to let you go."

Ruby grunted when she felt his tongue flick her earlobe. "Oh. Yours. I think Granny would have a cow if she found out about us like this. Besides, we wouldn't want to wake her, would we Viktor?"

He loved the sound of his name on her lips. "I'll agree with whatever you say, so long as you continue to say my name." They stood together and kissed again. Ruby grabbed his hand and pulled him along.

"Come, Viktor."

He smirked. "Oh, I think I shall. But after you, my dear."


End file.
